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Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG DDT4 2015

June 27, 2015 | Posted by Jake St-Pierre
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Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG DDT4 2015  

Last time I ran into PWG, they pulled off one of their best shows in years with Don’t Sweat The Technique. They settled back into the groove of being that high octane, balls to the wall wrestling promotion people fell in love with. That’s not to say that they weren’t a force beforehand, but the magic that made 2012-2013 so incredible seemed to have been missing for a while. With the return of Zack Sabre Jr for this show, they had a built in MOTYC with the revitalized Roderick Strong that even blew away my high expectations. The lower card had showed a level of straight up consistency PWG hasn’t had for a while, too. Tommy End made an incredible debut, Andrew Everett returned with a force, and I managed to praise Mike Bailey as well. However, PWG hasn’t managed to have great DDT4’s in the past couple installments. Sure, you had the iconic Generico/Steen hug in 2013 and the Best Friends coming into their own last year, but they never came close to matching the sheer awesomeness the 2011 and 2012 editions brought. And like last year, the Young Bucks are nowhere to be found for DDT4, so PWG has to rely on new names and somewhat unproven commodities to carry on its tag team tradition. Will DDT4 2015 break its streak of not-quite-amazingness, or are the new blood going to exacerbate it?

As usual, we are TAPED from the American Legion in Reseda, CA.

Your hosts are Excalibur and stuff.

The Beaver Boys vs. Team Tremendous
Due to my unfamiliarity with CZW, I’ve yet to see Team Tremendous in action. And for the sake of “journalistic” integrity, I must admit I hadn’t even seen what they looked like until I saw the preview for this DVD, so I’m coming in completely blind. My affinity for the Beaver Boys should be well established at this point, so I’m not going to waste any more of your time there.

I like Team Tremendous’ attire. I suppose it’s a little hypocritical to like their admittedly corny outfits while I consistently make fun of Mike Bailey, but this is my review and I still say Mike Bailey’s a geek. And hey, they have detective gimmicks! Dan Barry and John Silver start things off. They trade flippy armdrags until we get a GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! I haven’t seen one of those in a bit. Silver kicks Barry’s knees out from under him, but Barry punches Silver’s knees out. They tie up on their knees, and we’re gonna have a kneeling feeling out process. Silver does the wristlock kip up WHILE KNEELING. Barry one-ups him and comes off the ropes (while kneeling of course) and hits a hip toss. KNEELING GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! That sends the crowd to its feet ironically, and Alex Reynolds gets sick of it and superkicks a kneeling Barry in the side of the head. Barry puts Silver in the corner and asks him “What did you do with that little girl!” I think I’m gonna like these guys. Team Tremendous pulls out GOOD COP BAD COP! Bill Carr tags in as the bad cop and gets a bit more aggressive in his interrogation, i.e. the frying pan chop ala Big Show. Good GOD. Vader would wince at those chops. Barry tags back in and comes in witha beautiful 180 Arabian Press. Carr tags right back in, and Silver tries to chop him down. It takes Alex Reynolds’ help and a double dropkick to get Carr down. Barry comes back in and gets the control back, hitting a Tope Suicida on Reynolds! Reynolds gets his heat back by killing Dan Barry with an STO on the apron. That allows the Beaver Boys to take control for the first time in this match. Reynolds stares Carr down as he works over Barry, who hits a SWEET double jump Frankensteiner off the top rope! Reynolds comes in to prevent the hot tag, but Barry tags Carr in anyhow, and Bill Carr cleans house, including a WICKED backdrop. CARR MURDERS JOHN SILVER WITH A BOSSMAN SLAM IN MID AIR! TORNILLO FROM DAN BARRY! TOPE CON HILO FROM BILL CARR~! Yeah, these guys are alright. Lawn Dart/Flatliner from Team Tremendous, but it only gets two. They go for an Doomsday Sliced Bread, but Reynolds escapes and allows Silver to come in and ragdoll Dan Barry around. Silver and Carr come face to face, and SILVER MANAGES TO RAG DOLL CARR! DEADLIFT GERMAN ON CARR!~! NEARFALL! Barry crotches Silver on the top rope and HITS A FALLAWAY MOONSAULT SLAM! SILVER KICKS OUT! They look for the Doomsday Sliced Bread and hit it, but Alex Reynolds steals the win with a roll-up! That’s it in 17 minutes. ***3/4 This was everything you could want from an opener. Fun, easygoing comedy early on that morphs into a tremendous tag team spotfest, the latter of which is basically what DDT4 is almost guaranteed to offer. Team Tremendous offers something in PWG not seen since the Super Smash Brothers. They have the big, agile powerhouse on one end, while the other guy is a fantastic high flyer with great charisma. Time will tell if they can fill SSB’s shoes, but they got off on a fantastic foot with this match. The Beaver Boys played great heels, although they were a little less pronounced in their antics as they were their last two outings. Overall, I can’t really find anything to complain about with this match. The 17 minutes felt like half that, and the personality all guys brought complimented the awesome wrestling they brought to the table. We’ve hit the ground running big time.

Biff Busick & Drew Gulak vs. Inner City Machine Guns
Biff and Gulak had a pretty mediocre match against reDRagon at BOLA last year, but hopefully the added excitement that the Machine Guns bring can curb my pessimism.

Busick and Ricochet start things off with your usual stuff. No kneeling technical exhibitions for these guys. Ricochet smacks Biff in the face with a sliding kick, but Biff comes back and is able to tag Gulak in. Ricochet backs Gulak into his corner and tags in Swann, and the Machine Guns do stereo 10 Punches. Swann fakes out Gulak with a dive and ends up headscissoring him down on the outside. Swann and Gulak go at it on the outside. They botch something but thankfully no one really sees it, and Swann dropkicks Gulak inside. Ricochet works over Busick. This match is REALLY slow right now. Double team kicks from Swann and Ricochet, and Swann HITS THE CHINLOCK!~! Swann FACEPLANTS on a backdrop. Gulak puts in Cattle Mutilation, and Ricochet puts a stop to it. Busick tags back in and puts in a single leg crab on Swann, and actually manages to make an STF look decent. Still, we’re over ten minutes in and the best part of this resthold-fest is the DISGUSTING European Uppercut Busick hits on Swann. More restholds as Gulak comes in. Swann enzi’s Busick and jumps up for a Frankensteiner! Biff again cuts off Swann, who hits a double Lethal Injection on Gulak and Busick. Ricochet hits an AMAZING switch kick on Biff and Drew, and he makes Biff DDT his partner! Ricochet gets out of a rack from Busick, and THEY MURDER RICOCHET WITH A EUROPEAN UPPERCUT/GERMAN!~! I can’t describe how disgusting that head drop was. Christ. Ricochet blind tags Swann as Busick tries to powerbomb him, and Swann uses Ricochet’s back to enzuigiri Busick! He throws rights and lefts on Busick in the corner, and Ricochet hits a mean dropkick. Swann hits a roll-through DDT for two. Why the crowd is chanting “This is Awesome” is beyond me, but I guess wrestling is subjective. Busick and Gulak go for tandem powerbombs, but Swann ranas Busick to the outside and Ricochet mushroom stomps Gulak in the ring! Gulak ducks the Bendryller, but eats a spinning back kick and a Bendryller. Swann heads up top and hits the 450 to advance the Machine Guns in 21 minutes. **3/4 I wish I was kidding when I said the first 12 minutes of this match primarily consisted of rest holds. That really took any steam they had and flushed it away, and it made it hard to get through the rest of the match. They recovered fairly well down the stretch but Gulak and Busick were SO bland and uninspiring as the heel team that anything they did heat-wise wasn’t interesting enough to sustain itself. Booking this to go 21 minutes is absolutely insane and why you’d stretch the crowd’s attention span like that in the second match of the night is mind boggling. If the opener was a masterclass on how to make a longer match feel like half of its actual length, this match is the masterclass on how to do the complete opposite of that. I might be going a little hard on this, but I don’t really think it’s a bad thing to expect a match with Biff Busick, Rich Swann and Ricochet to not be filled with Randy Orton-esque rest holds. You can’t win them all I suppose.

Mike Bailey & Matt Sydal vs. Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee
This is the type of environment I want to see Mike Bailey in. I still don’t like him but I think he can excel in a tag team environment, especially with Matt Sydal as a partner and Everett and Lee as his opponents. I don’t see how this match won’t be able to deliver personally.

Trevor Lee mimicking Andrew Everett’s cartwheel gives me a good omen about this match. Everett and Sydal start off, and Sydal uses the griseled veteran flippy floom flams he’s memorized to get the upperhand. Everett amazingly lands on his feet on a headscissor takedown, but his cockiness earns him Sydal’s beautiful standing moonsault. Here comes Speedball, and thus Trevor Lee comes in. Lee blocks a kick but can’t dodge the back handspring headlock takeover. Bailey gets out of what was going to be a disgusting German Suplex, and tries to do Sydal’s moonsault. He does okay. Sydal murders Everett with a sliding kick in the corner. Everett tags in and hits a pretty Dropsault on Sydal, who comes back with a leg lariat that drops him on his neck. Trevor Lee prevents Sydal from springboarding off of the second rope but STEPPING ON THE SECOND ROPE. I have NEVER seen that before. Wow. Needless to say, that gives Everett and Lee momentary control. Sydal counters a suplex with the split legged reverse DDT, but Lee prevents him from a hot tag and hits his awesome deadlift gutwrench suplex. I really like this Lee/Everett team. I suppose working as perpetual opponents in North Carolina would have something to do with that. They just complement each other so well in the ring. Everett is the babyface guy with insane aerial moves while Trevor Lee is insanity wrapped in a 200 pound ball. Sydal starts coming back, but Lee cuts him off by basically diving into the corner with Sydal on his shoulder. Everett comes in and superkicks Sydal, who comes back by hitting the jumping rana from the canvas! Bailey tags in and LAYS IN some kicks. Jesus, he didn’t come close to making them look this good last month. Bailey eats a right hand from Lee, who catches a kick and FLIPS HIM OVER THE TOP ROPE. Speedball recovers and nearly brains Lee with a moonsault knee drop for a nearfall. Everett almost murders himself by botching a reverse rana, but everyone recovers fairly quickly and all of a sudden all four men are down. Sydal starts jump kicking everybody, but Lee catches him mid standing moonsault. Sydal hits a lungblower on Lee, AND SPEEDBALL COMES DOWN ONT LEE WITH A SHOOTING STAR KNEEDROP! EVERETT BREAKS UP THE PINFALL! Sydal hits the Here It Is Driver, but Lee prevents the Shooting Sydal Press. Lee and Speedball meet on the apron AND LEE MURDERS SPEEDBALL WITH A GERMAN SUPLEX ON THE APRON!~! Oh my God that bump was fifteen times worse than the Reverse Rana last time. FUCK. SHOOTING SYDAL PRESS ON ANDREW EVERETT! TURNING CROSSBODY ON SYDAL! ORANGE CRUSH…BAILEY BREAKS IT UP! TURNING CROSSBODY ON SPEEDBALL! PARTNER ASSISTED 630 SPLASH ON LEE! That picks up the win in a ridiculous 18 minutes. **** Okay, sue me for the generous rating, but there was some stuff in this match that would maim a normal man and I want the rating to reflect that, in my own morbid little way. Sure, there were a few botches in here but with the pace they set from the get-go, that’s almost half-expected. And to be completely honest, those botches didn’t slow the pace down at all. Speedball started finding himself on my good side in this match, showing a lot of personality and really making his spots count. Some of his kicks in this match, I wouldn’t want to be paid to take. And his bump on that apron German Suplex… Jesus God. I pray that he saves that for special occasions because a couple degrees up and he’s going the way of Droz. But like last month, in a vaccuum, that was an incredible spot. For the sake of brevity I won’t go too far into how much I love Lee and Everett as a team yet, but safe to say they turned this show up a few notches. Amazing match.

PWG World Tag Team Title Match: The World’s Cutest Tag Team (c) vs. Monster Mafia
In a very unfortunate happening, Josh Alexander is retiring so we won’t be seeing him on any PWG shows after Mystery Vortex III. I’m glad he’s looking out for himself, but selfishly I’ll always be a little bummed we won’t get to see any more Monster Mafia after the next show. I’m looking forward to this match big time however, as any Joey & Candice match usually tears the roof off.

Joey tries to auction off his Blowpop, and of course, this being a wrestling crowd, many hands go up. Some dork with a bad haircut and Hitman shades gets it, but to be fair, he sells getting that Blowpop like it’s a world title. Ethan Page tries to quiet the crowd’s “I want Candice” chant, only to agree a little too strongly by saying “I want the whore too”, Peter Avalon style. Ethan Page gets on his knees and mocks Candice’s size, even pie-facing the champ. Candice fights back but gets shoved to the mat immediately. Ethan Page MOONS THE HARD CAMERA AND SHOVES CANDICE’S FACE IN HIS ASS. Candice is PISSED. She puts her hair up, and it’s ON. VIOLENCE PARTY IN THE CORNER! Ethan patronizes Candice some more, which earns him a Tornado Flatliner for a flash two count. Double bodyslam scores for the champs. Josh Alexander comes in and hits a partner-assisted Edgecution on Joey Ryan. Alexander drops Candice with a right hand on the apron and throws Joey down with a German Suplex. Falling Sidewalk Slam scores for Ethan Page. Josh Alexander hilariously gets up on the second rope and tells Candice “I thought you were the bitch of the tag team!” Gotta love good heels. Joey hits a Pumphandle suplex on Page, and gets the hot tag to Candice, who cleverly hits a neckbreaker on the second rope to Alexander. He puts in the Black Widow on Alexander, and she’s able to avoid Ethan Page. Candice hits a Stunner on Alexander! Alexander crotches Candice on the partner-assisted DDT to the outside, and tries to superplex her to the floor, but Candice fights out and JOEY SPEARS JOSH THROUGH THE ROPES TO THE OUTSIDE! CANDICE HITS A MOONSAULT TO THE OUTSIDE! Joey throws Candice into a Tornado DDT on Alexander for a two count, but Alexander drops them both as Candice is on Joey’s shoulders. Ethan Page hits a slingshot Flatliner, and Josh murders Candice with a wheelbarrow suplex for a two count! Joey kicks Page on the outside, and Alexander eats an enzuigiri from Candice, who tags Joey in for a spinebuster. Ethan Page disposes of Candice and they hit the Murder Go Round for a two count! The Mafia corners Joey in the ring and looks for a double Neutralizer, but Candice breaks it up. They stop Candice dead in her tracks, but SHE COUNTERS THE LOCH NESS LOWDOWN INTO A DDT! SHE DIVES OUT ONTO PAGE WITH A SWINGING DDT! Alexander catches a diving rana and accidentally bumps the ref! Ruh roh. Candice Ballsplexes Alexander onto Rick Knox! RODERICK STRONG COMES OUT AND SICK KICKS CANDICE! KNEE TO JOEY! END OF HEARTACHE ON CANDICE! That was an amazingly random interference. It made no sense and I loved it. Joey comes back and tries to fight off the Mafia, and nearly gets the win off of a superkick, but Alexander kicked out. Joey gets out of a Small Package, but he eats the double Neutralizer, and we have new tag champs at the 17 minute mark. ***1/2 You know, I liked the interference for how random it was, but it does kind of make the Mafia (the largest tag team in the company) look a little weak. For that little lapse in ‘psychology’, I’ve got to dog the rating a little bit. These four still put on a great match, filled with your usual great Candice spots. I let out an audible “OOOOH SHIT” when she started putting her hair up for instance. So in terms of pure entertainment, these guys didn’t slack at all. Thumbs up.

PWG World Tag Title Match: Monster Mafia (c) vs. The Beaver Boys
That’s quite the turnaround, isn’t it? And yeah, I know normally heel vs. heel matches don’t work, but this is Reseda so tradition doesn’t really apply. I’m looking forward to this big time.

Excalibur explains that this isn’t quite the big turnaround we thought, as the middle rope snapped and they got a long intermission to rest. So there you go. Silver and Page start off, and Page immediately compares himself to Scott Steiner for no particular reason other than to be amazing. Silver and Page talk some trash, and Silver overpowers the cocky Page early on. The action spills to the floor afterwards. Silver backdrops Alexander on the floor, and Page comes to his partner’s aid. Page catapults Silver into the ringpost, and gets mega heat after taunting. Reynolds escapes a Loch Ness Lowdown on the floor, but he can’t get away from a backbreaker/kneedrop. The Beaver Boys are the defacto faces now, as the Mafia works over Reynolds in the ring. Silver comes in like a house of fire and he gives Alexander a Jackhammer of all moves. He locks in a Straitjacket Crossface, and gives Ethan Page a Ligerbomb for a nearfall. Alexander gives Reynolds an Exploder Suplex into John Silver, but Silver prevents a double Neutralizer and the Beaver Boys hit a flapjack/Uppercut instead. Page hits an Ace Crusher on Reynolds, and they hit the double Neutralizer. Silver breaks it up though. Silver DOUBLE BACKDROPS out of the double Neutralizer and he hits a double Sliced Bread #2! Huge barrage of double teams hit for the Beaver Boys, but Page BARELY powers out of a jacknife pin! Alex Reynolds tries to hit Page with the title belt, but Alexander stops it and allows Page to hit a low blow. That is, until Silver hits Page with the belt! The Beaver Boys pick up the win and the titles in 11 minutes. *** Sure it could have been better, but I think they did just fine given their position in the card. The crowd took a bit to wake up following the intermission, but when the action picked up, so did they. Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling, and the right team won.

Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee vs. The Inner City Machine Guns
I’ll refrain from any hyperbole in case I jinx the match, but COME ON.

Trevor Lee is dancing to All Night Long, but nobody’s singing it. Rich Swann pretty much calls gimmick infringement and SERVES Trevor Lee, which causes Andrew Everett to take a Rock-esque bump. Ricochet wins the dance contest by a country mile with a very smooth edition of the CARLTON!~! After a weird start, Everett and Ricochet start, and Everett eats a superkick mid-back handspring. That gives the Machine Guns control of the match in the earlygoing. Ricochet does an 818 to Everett mid-springboard, but Lee cuts his momentum off and stomps him down in the corner. LEE DIVES OVER THE RINGPOST OUT OF NOWHERE ON TOP OF SWANN! RICOCHET DIVES OUT ON TOP OF HIM WITH A CORKSCREW! Ricochet brings Everett in the ring and hilariously mocks the Young Bucks with one of the most lackadaiscal back rakes in the history of life. Swann wins my heart by channeling D’Lo Brown and throwing a couple mean leg drops. Ricochet stretches Everett with a weird hold, and drops him with a spinebuster. Ricochet hits the People’s Moonsault to a huge pop. Trevor Lee tags in and cleans house. He hits a BEAUTIFUL STO on Ricochet that makes Samoa Joe’s look amateur. Lee and Everett have momentum on their side, and EVERETT HITS A PARTNER ASSISTED SPRINGBOARD SHOOTING STAR PRESS TO THE OUTSIDE! That guy’s gonna die in a ring. Or outside of it. Everett hits a Pele Kick on Swann and DOES THE DEAL with a spinning Falcon Arrow, but Swann kicks out. Much to the surprise of Excalibur and Rick Knox of course. Swann and Ricochet turn the tide with a ridiculous barrage of standing dives, but Everett manages to kick out. Everett dodges a suplex and makes up for his past botch by hitting a PERFECT Reverse Rana, and LEE FOLLOWS UP WITH A MUSHROOM STOMP! Swann breaks up the pin. Ricochet hits a beautiful Blue Thunder Bomb on Everett, but can’t quite get the pin. Lee bitch slaps Swann a couple times, but Swann gives zero fucks and THROWS LEATHER at Trevor Lee in the corner! Jesus, he’s got Vitor Belfort hands. Ricochet dives in with a corner dropkick on Lee, who takes the leaping Frankensteiner and Vertigo, but Everett saves the day! Trevor Lee counters the Benadryller, and HITS THE TURNING CROSSBODY ON RICOCHET! Swann hits him with the Lethal Injection, BUT EVERETT COMES DOWN WITH A SPRINGBOARD SHOOTING STAR PRESS!~! RICOCHET HITS EVERETT WITH A BENADRYLLER! Swann recovers first and chops Lee and Everett’s faces, but he can’t overcome the numbers game and gets a Rana from Everett. LEE COUNTERS A ROLLING DDT INTO ORANGE CRUSH! HE ROLLS HIM INTO A SPIKE RANA FROM EVERETT! TOPE SUICIDA TO RICOCHET! Everett pins Swann to roll into the finals in another fantastic 19 minute match. **** This was all the Everett/Lee vs. Sydal/Bailey match was without the botches. I can’t believe how fantastic Lee and Everett are as a team, and I hope they face the Young Bucks immediately, because that’s a MOTYC waiting to happen. As for this match, what can really be said? Talking about how great these guys are would pretty much make me a broken record. I’ll say this; for four guys who have already wrestled 20 minute matches earlier in the night, this was phenomenal. Can you imagine how mental this would have gotten had they been fresh? Amazing stuff.

Johnny Gargano vs. TJ Perkins
I’m really not all that keen on seeing TJ’s faux-MMA stuff after seeing all this fast action but maybe he’ll surprise me. Just please don’t drag the show down.

To be fair to TJ, the tights he’s wearing show more personality than he ever has himself. TJ dodges Johnny’s cool little rolling kick in the earlygoing. TJ can’t pull off a monkey flip but instead puts in a Black Widow. Johnny comes back with an armbar that TJ counters into a Stretch Muffler, but it doesn’t stay in for long. Johnny hits the rolling kick and follows up with a leaping neckbreaker. During the 10 Punches, Johnny pretty much skull fucks TJ to a massive amount of heat. TJ drops Gargano down with a rana, but misses a springboard to the outside. Johnny comes back with a tope suicida! TJ hits the Detonation Kick as they go back inside. TJ does that little spinning headscissors thing that Scotty 2 Hotty used to do, which earns a pop from me. Johnny MURDERS TJ with a sitout powerbomb. That was like the powerbombs Kevin Owens used to do to Ricochet. TJ gets out of Garga-No Escape, but Gargano comes back with a slingshot DDT for a two count. TJ hits some kind of weird lungblower for a two count. Why people continue to fall for TJ’s little rope trap thing never fails to amaze me. He uses that spot in EVERY MATCH. Gargano comes back and tries to put in Garga-NO Escape, but can’t get it. He lawn-darts TJ and goes for Hurts Donut, but TJ rolls out and gets a clooooose nearfall off of a victory roll. TJ rolls into a cross armbreaker beautifully, and he stomps Gargano’s head in while doing it. Gargano rolls into a Garga-No Escape and TJ taps at the 13 minute mark. *** Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling. It was filler from bell-to-bell, which isn’t really something I expect out of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla admittedly. However, it was a good way to come down from the insanity of the match preceeding it, so I’d say they did their job.

PWG World Title Match: Roderick Strong (c) vs. Brian Cage vs. Chris Hero
I think Roderick Strong’s 2015 has been well-documented. Whether it’s tearing down the house with Nakamura and Tanahashi in ROH, or having MOTYC’s with Zack Sabre Jr in PWG, he’s been having a real career renaissance. Hero had a phenomenal match with Tommy End last time out, and turned his corner with me. I’ll always love Brian Cage so there’s no need to address him.

The way Excalibur puts Roddy over before this match is just tremendous. The best commentator going today. Fight me. Roddy baits Cage and Hero, talking shit until he gets dropped with a double chop from Hero and Cage. Cage drops Hero with a shoulderblock, and Roddy uses that as his opportunity to jump in. He throws Hero into Cage, which pisses them both off. Cage and Hero start arguing with each other, and Roddy tries to take advantage, but Hero and Cage aren’t having it. Hero kicks the shit out of Roddy, who grabs onto the bottom rope to try to get away from it. That doesn’t help, as he gets a senton and a standing moonsault from Hero and Cage respectively. Hero chops Roddy while he’s up for a suplex, but Cage manages to not drop him. Hero and Cage are kicking the shit out of him. Hero hits Cage with a Bicycle Kick and an elbow in the corner, but Cage don’t play that shit, as he comes back with a Fireman’s Carry Flapjack. Cage hits the 818 and tries for the Fucking Machine Superplex, but Roddy puts a stop to it by hitting a Backstabber, which then causes Cage’s foot to hit Hero in the dick! Cage drops Roddy with a gourdbuster and a neckbreaker. Hero comes back in and hits a Sling Blade on the champ, and he follows up with a bunch of stiff chops and strikes. Cage hits an Argentine Backbreaker on Hero, but eats a kick from Roddy. Roddy puts Hero on the top rope, but Hero drops him down with a headbutt and hits a Yakuza kick for his troubles. Roddy runs into Cage, who drops him with a Samoan Drop. He fails miserably at kipping up, and eats a Mafia Kick for his troubles. Hero sends Cage out to the apron, where he desperately tries to send him to the floor with Bicycle and Mafia Kicks. Cage flips him off, so Hero finishes the job with an elbow. Roddy drops Cage with a baseball slide and backdrops Hero on the apron, but it only gets two. Roddy hits an Olympic Slam on Hero for another two count. Roddy tries puts Hero up on his shoulders, but Cage slips behind him with a German Suplex, sending them both back. Roddy gets out of a pumphandle, and goes up top, dives off, where BRIAN CAGE CATCHES HIM IN A SUPLEX! Hero comes in and hits CYCLONE KILL on Cage, who kicks out! Hero goes up top, but Roddy catches him and hits a superplex! Cage runs into Death By Roderick, but Roddy can’t get the win on either of them. Three way chopfest now, until Roddy puts in the Stronghold on Hero. Roddy puts Cage in it as he tries to stop it! Hero hits a Roaring Elbow to put the kibosh on that. Hero can’t get the pin though. Cage superkicks Hero, but runs into a jumping knee from Roddy. Roddy then runs into a Roaring Elbow and a TOMBSTONE from Hero! Roddy kicks out! Cage and Hero are alone now, and Cage KILLS Hero with a discus lariat! Hero rocks Cage with a Bicycle Kick and a couple ridiculous elbows and one that just CLOBBERS him. Christ. Hero looks for a Cradle Piledriver, but Roddy hits a Jumping Knee on him mid-lift! Sick Kicks for everybody, and one more Sick Kick puts Cage down for the count. Roddy retains in 21 minutes. ***1/2 This was a really good match that could have served to be cut down a few minutes. It didn’t quite drag but it felt like they could have eliminated a couple of the strike exchanges and it would have probably made the match a smoother ride. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy this a lot, because I did. I loved the psychology of Hero and Cage working together in the earlygoing to eliminate Roddy, who was such a little pest that he was able to outsmart them and put them both away cleanly. That’s how you book a dickhead heel like that. You don’t Seth Rollins them and make them look incompetent; you make them look cowardly yet deceptively smart. I think Roddy has been on a tear this year and psychological matches like this are why. I have a bit of a qualm with the length and a relative lack of excitement, but they still turned out a good effort here.

DDT Final Round for the PWG World Tag Team Titles: The Beaver Boys vs. Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee
Everett and Lee have by far been the highlight of the show so far, while the Beaver Boys had a tremendous opener, in more ways than one. While fatigue will surely play a part here, I’m still more than psyched for this match.

Things start hot and heavy from the get-go, but do quickly slow down. Lee gets worked over by Silver as things get back in the ring. Lee starts coming back with an O’Connor Roll, and upon getting pushed off, he dives out on top of Reynolds with a tope suicida! Everett tags in and cleans house, and HE DIVES OUT ONTO THE BEAVER BOYS WITH A TORNADO CROSSBODY! This guy is ridiculous. As Everett comes back in, Reynolds sneaks in a mean chair shot to Everett’s hurt knee. Lee LOSES HIS SHIT, but Rick Knox sends him to his corner. Safe to say, the Beaver Boys are working on Everett’s knee now. The Beavers do a rolling leg-hook thing that looks nasty. Everett tries to come back, but his knee can’t even hold up for a step. Silver and Reynolds are doing a masterful job of working Everett’s knee. Everett tries everything he can to get to Lee for the tag, but Reynolds destroys his knee with a Dragon Screw. That looked nasty. They just continue to knock the shit out of him, and Everett is starting to get frustrated, and he fights back with some stiff shots, but it ain’t happening yet. Lee does low bridged Silver out of the ring like he did Sydal, and Everett gets the tag! He hits a mean German Suplex on Silver, and MUSHROOM STOMPS Reynolds! Lee eats two Germans from the Beaver Boys, and Silver Exploder Suplexes him into the corner! Everett saves the pin! Reynolds responds by DROPPING HIM ON HIS HEAD, which disposes of him for the moment. Everett comes in and SPIKES Silver with a Rana, but he can’t follow up because of his knee! Lee and Reynolds get to their knees and exchange strikes while Everett tries to climb up to the top with one leg. Lee hits ORANGE CRUSH ON REYNOLDS! 630 FROM EVERETT! SILVER BARELY MAKES THE SAVE! Silver and Everett brawl on the outside, and Silver ragdolls Everett into the post! HE RAGDOLLS HIM INTO A PILE OF CHAIRS! He comes in and talks shit to Trevor, and Trevor eats a DOUBLE ELECTRIC CHAIR DRIVER! LEE KICKS OUT! Reynolds tries to hit Lee with the belt, but Lee stops it. LEE PINS REYNOLDS WITH A SMALL PACKAGE! And just like that, Lee and Everett win the DDT4 and the Titles in another fantastic 18 minutes. **** Just when you think they’re going to slow down, they do something even better. Everett and Lee were phenomenal tonight but I’ve gotta hand it to Andrew Everett in this match particularly. He was incredible in everything he did. He was great at garnering sympathy with the way he sold the Beaver Boys working his knee, and even better when he sold it after. So many indy guys succumb to the ending spotfest and forget to sell what they’ve been building the whole night. Andrew Everett didn’t do that. He did some of his usual high flying stuff, but he did it with such reservation that you could believe it was only adrenaline and determination that got him up and down. The Beaver Boys are a tremendous tag team too. The way they destroyed Everett’s knee was nothing short of wonderful. While guys like Busick and Gulak bored the living crap out of me with their “heat” segment, the Beavers showed that this is what they do best. I can’t lay any praise better on this match than saying it’s the best of both worlds. It’s like Strong/Sabre Jr mixed with Everett/Ricochet from last month. If you want something that blends psychology with your usual PWG insanity, this is right up your alley. Bravo to all four men, and bravo to Lee and Everett for having three four-star matches in one night. That’s ridiculous.

8.5
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
While last year's DDT4 was nearly on par with this years' edition as an event, where the difference lies is in the quality of their tournaments. This year's DDT4 tournament is the best since 2012's which I still believe is the best of all time. Trevor Lee and Andrew Everett were freaks of nature the entire way through this show, and that's not hyperbole. It takes special talent to pull off three four-star matches in one night. They did it with style. The only letdown was Gulak & Busick vs. The Machine Guns, and that was more inoffensive than actively bad. Everything else ranged from good to off-the-charts. Upon hearing of PWG's plans for Threemendous IV, it seems as though they're on a roll, and this show only keeps it going. A high thumbs up for DDT4 2015.
legend